Fuel-delivery apparatus for railway-trains.



J. S.'BOYLAN. FUEL DELIVERY APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY TRAINS.

APPLICATION. FILED APR. 3. 1915.

1,298,904. Patented Dec. 19, 1916.

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JOSEPH S. BOYLAN, 0F PONGA CITY, OKLAHOMA.

Application filed April 3, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH S. BOYLAN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Ponca City, in the county of Kay and State of Oklahoma, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fuel- Delivery Apparatus for Railway-Trains, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in fuel delivery apparatus for railway cars and has particular application to automatic fuel delivery mechanism whereby the coal, oil. or other fuel may be delivered to the tender or fuel car while the latter is in motion.

In carrying out the present invention, it is my purpose to provide fuel delivery apparatus of the class described whereby the fuel will be delivered to the fuel car of the train while the latter is in motion, thereby eliminating the necessity of stopping the train while receiving fuel.

It is also my purpose to provide fuel delivery apparatus for railway cars which will embody in its construction, among other features, a fuel carrier disposed adjacent to one side of the trackway and movable in a path parallel with the trackway while delivering the fuel to the car and movable away from the trackway subsequent to the discharge of the fuel into the fuel receiving car; and car carried means for engaging the fuel carrier to move the latter with the car so that the fuel may be delivered to the latter.

Another object of my invention is to improve and simplify the general construction of fuel delivery apparatus for railways and to provide apparatus which may be. operated and maintained at small cost,-which will operate efficiently and eflectively for its intended purpose; and which will be entirely automatic in operation.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter set forth in and falling within the scope of the claims.

In the accompanying .drawings; Figure l is a top plan view of a trackway and fuel receiving car thereon and the fuel carrier showing the relative arrangement of the parts of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through the car fuel carrier and support therefor. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of the carrier or loader, parts being broken away.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 19, 1916.

Serial No. 19,040.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, 1 designates a trackway adapted to be traversed by trains each including a fuel receiving car 2. Disposed upon one side of the trackway 1 and spaced apart a suitable distance therefrom is a container 3 mounted upon suitable uprights 4 and of any desired length. This container 3 is designed to hold coal, oil, or other fuel that is used by the motor cars traversing the trackway and the ends thereof are rounded. Secured to the walls of the container 3 and encircling the latter are tracks 5, 5 superimposed one upon the other and spaced apart in parallelism. Mounted upon the tracks 5, 5 are hangers 6, 6 adapted to travel along the tracks and connected to the hangers 6, 6 is a fuel carrier or loader 7. In the present instance, the carrier or loader 7 is substantially rectangular in contour and formed of metal and closing the front end of the carrier or loader 7 is a chute 8 pivoted at its lower end between the side walls of the carrier adjacent to the bottom wall of the latter and capable of swinging movement to open position to form a continuation of the bottom wall of the carrier so that the fuel within the carrier may be discharged therefrom.

9 designates a retractile spring having one end secured to the chute 8 and the remaining end fastened to the inner surface of one of the side walls of the carrier, such spring acting to swing the chute to closed position succeeding the discharge of the coal or other fuel from the carrier. The bottom wall of the carrier is preferably inclined downwardly from the back wall toward the front end so as to facilitate the discharge of the fuel therefrom. The carrier 7 is adapted to move along the tracks 5 and in the present instance, an electric motor 10 is suitably secured to the bottom wall of the carrier adjacent to the rear end thereof and keyed upon the armature shaft of such motor is a pinion 11 meshing with a rack bar 12 secured to the front wall of the container 3 immediately below the bottom track 5 and of a length less than that of the front wall of the container.

Secured to the front wall of the casing parallel with the rack bar 12 is a conductor 13 of a length equal to that of the rack bar 12 and bearing upon the conductor 13 and the adjacent portion of the lower track 5 are brushes connected with the terminals of the motor10. The conductor 13 and the adacent portion of the lower track 5 are con nected in an electric circuit including a suitable source of electrical energy, a circuitv loader '7 adjacent to the outer end thereof,

and the adjacent wall of the chute 8 are alining openings through which is passed a pin 18 carried upon one end of a trip lever 19 pivoted between its ends upon a bracket 20 secured to the adjacent wall of the loader 7.

21 designates an arm carried by one side 7 ofthe fuel car 2 and projecting outwardly from such car at right angles thereto and adapted to engage the arm 17 to actuate the switch ll to closed position and subsequently engage the free end of the trip lever 19 to withdraw the pin 18 from the alining openings and so permit the chute 8 to be swung to, lowered or active position under the weight of the coal in the loader or carrier.

In practice, when the train is approaching the fuel delivery apparatus the arm 21 engages the arm 17 and actuates the switch 14: to closed position thereby closing the electric circuit of the motor 10. As the carrier 7 is at the forward end of the container 3, that is, the end of the container that the train is approaching, the pinion 11 in mesh with the rack bar 12 imparts movement to the carrier 7 with the effect to carry the latter along the tracks 5, 5. As the fuel car approaches the container 3 the arm 21 engages the forward side of the carrier 7 and impacts against the free end of the trip lever 19 thereby withdrawing the pin 18 and when the pin 18 is in released position the chute 8 is actuated to delivery position under the weight of the fuel in the loader or carrier. Thus, the coal or other fuel in the loader is delivered to the car 2. lVhen the arm 21 engages the carrier, the latter is carried along the trackway under the action of such arm and moves at the same speed as'the fuel car so as to facilitate the delivery of the fuel to such car. As the arm 21 passes the circuit breaking switch 16, such arm engages such switch and actuates the latter to break the circuitof the motor-'10 and when the carrier reaches the rear end of the easing, such carrier travels around the adjacent end e of the container 3 under its own momentum and is relieved of the influence of the arm 21. As theloader or carrier moves initially under the action of the motor,'it will be seen that the impact between the arm 21 andthe carrier is lessened, thereby preventing the transmission of shock to the loader and associated parts and enabling the loader to operate efficiently and elfectively. 1n the present instance, bumpers 22 of appropriate construction surround the trip lever 19 and receive the impact of the arm 21 so as to prevent mutilation of the lever.

I claim:

in fuel delivery apparatus for railways, tracks arranged alongside of the trackway and spaced apart one above the other, a fuel carrier on said tracks and movable along the same, means adapted to discharge fuel from said carrier into a car traveling over the trackway, an electric motor on said car rier mechanism cooperating withsaid motor to move the carrier and motor along the trackway in the operation of the 1110t01,fl11 electriccircuit including said motor, a circuit closer connected in said circuit and arranged in advance of said carrier, a circuit breaker connected in-s'aid circuit and arranged behind the carrier, and car carried means for operating said circuit closer to close the circuit of the motor whereby the carrier may be moved along the trackway and for operating said circuit breaker to break the circuit of the motor, said car carried means being adapted to engage the carrier succeeding the movement thereof under the action of the motor to release said fuel discharge 1 means.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH s. BOYLAN.

WVitnesses:

GEORGE A. 'BENSON, JACOB L. MARTIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. 

